Fancy a cold coffee anyone? (Kenco Ice Cappio Mocha)

Member Name: chrisandmark

Product:	Kenco Ice Cappio Mocha
Date:	11/02/05 (1266 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Tastes delicious, Just the right consistency, Sweet

Disadvantages: Price, price, price, Oh, and 6g fat!!!

You've seen the advert, bet ya. The woman phones a telesales company and tells the bloke who answers the phone that she has double glazing, doesn't want car insurance and her electric company is one of the cheapest around. Why does she say this? Because she doesn't want any nuisance phone calls to interrupt her while she sits in the garden sipping a glorious looking iced coffee.

I had to have one. I've seen the ads on tele and heard the radio presenter on BRMB say how wonderful these Kenco Iced Cappio are. After what seems like years of searching I finally tracked them down in Asda, I started getting greedy and picked 4 cans up until I noticed the price! Let's get this over with because it's ridiculous. A 200ml can will cost you £1.28, that's a full 130ml smaller than a 50p can of Coke! A JAR of Kenco coffee costs £2.12 and you'll get at least 15 cups of coffee out of it. Get the picture? As I put one can in the trolley the opinionator in me mentally knocked a star off for this cheeky Kenco pricing structure.

The can's nice, relaxing beige and cream colours in a Baileys theme. Very classy looking. The can features an 'Aerating Device' which to the likes of us is a widget. That takes some of the classiness away, every time I look at one of these cans now I'll think of Jack Dee and dancing penguins...

OK, so I like the can but I don't like the price. However. I'm a coffee freak. 'My name is Chris and I'm addicted to coffee'. I could live with such a disgusting price if the drink's good enough.

But I don't think it's going to be. As I type I've just opened the can, this is a true blind review. As I'm experiencing Iced Cappio for the first time, you're experiencing it with me. How much fun is that??? The thing is, my first experience is of a smell that is exactly the same as a can of coffee flavoured Slim Fast. When I was drinking Slim Fast the coffee one *was* my favourite but I was expecting something that smelled of real coffee, not a watery 'food replacement' milkshake.

Pouring the drink into a glass (taking heed of the 'do not shake' instruction) I'm pleasantly surprised by consistency of the cappuccino. It flows out of the can nicely creating a small head of foam at the top. Remember I said we were experiencing this together? Well you've got to wait with me for the drink to settle and the foam to build up.

*drums fingers for 3 minutes*

There's not much difference in the level of foam and I'm not waiting any longer so I'll take it as it comes. I take my first sip. Mmmmmm. I've had the can in the fridge for a few hours and it's deliciously cold. I can taste the rich Kenco coffee flavour and the cappuccino has just the right amount of sugar added to give a sweet and very satisfying drink. It tastes nothing like it smells, whereas the Slim Fast is insipid and tasteless except for a chemically injected coffee flavour this iced cappuccino taste just like it should. Which is like an iced cappuccino, funnily enough. The head of foam stays where it is while I'm drinking and my last sip was a mouthful of coffee flavoured froth which is wonderfully light, I can feel the bubbles popping in my mouth and as they burst they seem to release an even more intense coffee flavour. Through the froth the coffee is creamy but not so creamy that you have to gulp the stuff down like the shambolic attempt Nescafe made at iced coffee a few years back, that stuff was so gloopy it would make me heave at times especially if I'd let it warm to room temperature. Eugh.

This drink is very refreshing, on a warm day (ie, not today) an Iced Cappio will leave you feeling cool and refreshed. It has the same refreshing qualities as a glass of ice cold milk although much more satisfying. I've also tried the Kenco Cappio Cappuccino drinks (the hot ones) and they're equally delicious, in both drinks you've got the same rich flavour but I must say I prefer the iced cappuccino for the simple reason that it's a break from the norm. I must drink 20 cups of coffee a day and am quite accomplished in making my own jugs of iced coffee, but a can of this is ideal for when I can't be bothered making a huge quantity of coffee and waiting hours for it to go cold so I can chill it for yet more hours.

Glancing at the ingredients I can see why each 200ml can contains 138 cals and 6g fat. The iced cappuccino contains 10% cream along with various sugars and milk, surprisingly considering the rich strong coffee flavour there is only 0.6% of instant coffee used so I assume there's a good amount of coffee flavouring involved in the creation of this drink. I can live with such a huge amount of fat in what is a pretty small drink however because the cheekiness of the price puts me off to the point that this will definitely be an occasional treat.

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